


The Drawing Board

by notgottaname



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Mostly Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 08:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8198965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notgottaname/pseuds/notgottaname
Summary: When Holtzmann had said that she needed to go back to the drawing board, Erin didn’t think that said drawing board was literal, but there it is, right in front of Erin and up on the lab wall in plain sight.OrErin discovers that when Holzmann said she had to 'go back to the drawing board' she was being serious. There is an actual drawing board and it makes Erin realise a few things...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> So, i should probably be updating my other fic but this got in my head and i couldn't write anything until i got it out.  
> It takes place immediately after the 'Rebecca Gorin' (extended/alternate scene) which i'm hoping everyone has seen. If not, this may not make sense...also why haven't you watched it yet?! Go, now!
> 
> (I wrote this with my brain leaking out of my ears...that's a real medical condition.) 
> 
> @notgottaname

‘Well, that was uncalled for.’ Abby accuses, shooting Erin an irritated glare.

‘What?’ Erin asks, but she knows what, she saw the look on Holtzmann’s face when she denied dating her, it was as fresh in her mind as it was in Abby’s.

‘You totally just broke her bizarre little heart.’ Abby tells her, the brunette has (thankfully) pulled them away from the awkward situation to the other side of the lab.

‘What? I- she was _joking_ Abby, she doesn’t like me like that. It’s Holtz for god sake; she’s like this with everybody.’

Abby gives her a pointed look, ‘Were you dropped on your head as a child?’

‘Excuse me-‘

‘Just…go to the back of the lab and look on the board behind Holtzmann’s desk.’

‘What? Why?’

‘Just do it!’ Abby is already walking away, escorting Dr Gorin downstairs and discussing the new prototype.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

When Holtzmann had said that she needed to go back to the drawing board, Erin didn’t think that said drawing board was literal, but there it is, right in front of Erin and up on the lab wall in plain sight.

To be fair, it is more of a large whiteboard than an actual drawing board. From where she is standing, the board looks like a jumbled assemblage of squiggles, circles and bits of paper, which is what she had always assumed it was when she had glanced at it in the past. However, now that she is properly looking, the true point of it is made clear by the enlarged title, a title Erin had never bothered to read before despite seeing this board on many occasions. It stands out now like one of those blinking neon signs: _Wooing Gilbert._

Erin stalks closer to it, carefully, slowly, like it might explode or disintegrate in front of her eyes. The closer that she gets the more it ceases to be meaningless shapes and the more it morphs into its true nature; an intricate amalgamation of diagrams and charts and lists cataloguing possible ways to charm Erin.

Rounding Holtzmann’s desk to get a clearer view (and trying not to trip over discarded machinery parts scattered across the floor) her gaze is fixed on the board. She is taken aback by what she sees, unsure as to whether it is awe or mortification that she feels.

On closer inspection, Erin sees that the board not only contains a list of odd courting cajolery, things like: _make laugh, give coveted SA knife, cuddle, first choice of guns, light desk on fire…_ But also there are reams of scribbled data on Erin bullet pointed all over the whiteboard, inbetween graphs and diagrams, around the edges, diagonal, upside down and off the edges onto the wall in some places.

Each bullet point she spots makes her blush with an increasingly deepening hue. Certain words and phrases jump out at her and each one is a flutter in her chest: _odd dancer, genius, coconut scented, ghost girl, funny, devoted, beautiful, my best friend…_

All of this is intermingled with noticed facts about things that Erin likes, she discerns a few through Holtzmann’s chicken-scratch as: _tweed, pepperoni pizza, Higgs, tiny bowties, Kevin (unhappy face), safety, proton pistol, dark matter…_

It’s like every new facet of information regarding Erin that Holtzmann uncovers; she jots it down on the board wherever she can fit it. There’s too much to fit on, so it spills over the edges, bleeds into each other, overlaps and merges.

Erin can feel her jaw dropping fraction by fraction with every syllable she reads; she has never in her life had someone devote so much time and effort in her, in trying to understand her. Holtzmann has always been different, always paid particular attention to Erin. She had always thought it was a game for the blonde that she got joy out of flustering Erin and maybe she does but this…this is more than a game.

It’s then that she notices the little drawings taped to random places on the board. The sketches are very small, on scraps of blueprint and graph paper, varying from the size of her palm to her whole hand and each one is of Erin.

Some are just a quick outline sketch of her profile or her hands but others are detailed life drawings that capture her essence perfectly. Erin remembers Holtzmann’s Danish art school background and the skill makes sense but she is still thrown by the delicate drawings. She can’t remember Holzmann ever paying enough attention to her to encapsulate her so well, to replicate the curve of her nose or the bend of her fingers so accurately.

She takes a step back, looks at the whole board for what it is; a beautiful mess, sentimental chaos. It is Holtzmann’s mind projected onto a whiteboard, it is a corporeal manifestation of her thoughts towards Erin and it is so weird and wonderful and _Holtzmann_ that Erin isn’t even shocked when she realises that she is crying.

‘I see you finally noticed my board.’

Erin jumps at the voice behind her and turns to see Holtzmann at the lab table. She is discarding the intricate headwear she was wearing and swapping them for her patented yellow-tinted glasses.

‘Holtz, this is…’ Erin can only execute a jerky, nondescript hand gesture towards the whiteboard. ‘How long as this been here?’

Holtzmann perches on her stool, elbow on the desk and chin in her hand, she taps her chin pondering the question.

‘Mmmmm, well the first things I wrote were “looks good in slime” and “tiny bowties” soooooo…pretty much since we met.’

Erin can only blink in response, she has stopped crying but the tear tracks are still wet on her cheeks. She has always felt a persistent kind of adoration for Holtzmann that she has always erected walls to hold back because she always thought it was meaningless flirtation on Holtzmann’s side, but seeing this board has made the walls crumble and she can feel her affection for the younger woman seeping through, _allows_ it.

‘For a particle physicist you are really good at not noticing things that are right in front of you.’

That was a little uncalled for, Erin thinks, for one, particles are invisible…but well okay, Holtzmann may have a point, she has been pretty blind, apparently.

Erin has the sudden urge, (that she sometimes gets around Holtzmann) to march over to the engineer, grab her by the lapels of her lab coat and  just…..she never usually finishes the thought, but today Erin very distinctly wants to grab Holtzmann by the collar and just kiss her senseless. The thought isn’t as startling as she thought it would be, in fact it has an edge of familiarity about it.

‘I can get rid of it, if you want?’ Holtzmann nods at the board, tries for nonchalance. She gives Erin a smirk that many people would believe but Erin sees right through.

She wonders when she started being able to tell when Holtzmann is hurt and pretending she isn’t. Wonders when she developed the ability to see through the cracks into the hurt little girl under the layers of pretence.

Holtzmann has that wide-eyed look she had earlier, it exudes wounded and embarrassment and Erin caused it and Erin wants to rectify it.

Taking one final look at the board for confirmation, Erin’s heart swells and she sees every piece of information on that board as an answer to a question she hadn’t known she had been asking.

Erin marches over to Holtzmann, clutches her by the lapels and pulls her up off the stool.

Holtzmann’s eyes widen further in shock, her arms flail a little as Erin yanks her in closer. She slows her pursuit when they are millimetres apart to take in a steadying - albeit shuddering - inhale.

‘What are you doing?’ Holtzmann whispers, she sounds a little awed and a lot confused.

‘Uhh…kissing you?’ It wasn’t supposed to be a question, but Erin’s bravado was sinking steadily like a lead weight.

‘Oh,’ Holtzmann’s face splits into a beaming smile, ‘Cool.’

Erin feels her confidence rise again and she leans in and-

‘Wait!’ Holtzmann shouts and Erin jerks back, feels her heart drop. Panic blurs the edges of her vision as she fleetingly wonders if Holtzmann is going to laugh in her face and say that this was all a joke.

In actuality, Holtzmann just pulls off her glasses and throws them blindly behind herself, too hard and too high. They bounce off several pieces of equipment, clang around the room noisily and land on the floor.

‘Was that really necessa-‘ Erin is cut off by Holtzmann tugging her in by the hips and pressing a firm but gentle kiss to her lips.

She doesn’t want to say that she sees fireworks because that seems too cliché but colours burst behind her eyelids and her fingertips tingle. Her heart is racing as she feels the world tilt on its axis, angling her into the woman in front of her. Even with an accomplished understanding of general relativity, she knows it is implausible but it still feels as though gravity is propelling her into Holtzmann.

Erin’s hands slide up over lab coat covered shoulders and wrap around, pulling them impossibly closer and deepening the kiss, turning it into something else, something that makes her feel warm all over, like she is stood in the sunlight and it bathes her on all sides.

It is as her fingers are touching loose hairs at the nape of her neck and as Holtzmann’s hands are slipping down past the curve of her lower back that the distinct sound of footsteps ascending stairs breaches the bubble they are in.

Erin breaks the kiss, disentangling herself from the engineer. Holtzmann stumbles back, the look on her face could only be characterised as ‘dreamy,’ and Erin knows she is wearing a similar look. She wants to roll her eyes at herself but the footsteps are getting closer so instead she whispers, ‘ _Act natural!’_ to Holtzmann, fraught.

The blonde leans against the table, crossing her legs and propping her hand on her hip, she is all exaggerated dimples and pink cheeks and it is the _least_ natural looking pose Erin has ever seen.

The footsteps belong to Dr Gorin; she enters with a stiff smile and terse nod at Erin. She turns to Holtzmann and raises her eyebrows at her odd position.

‘Jillian, I have been asked by Dr Yates to see if you would accompany us with a little test on the prototype?’

‘Oh, erm, sure. When?’ Her eyes flit to Erin, there’s a question within them, awaiting explanation.

‘Now, preferably.’

Holtzmann is still looking at Erin, but when Erin fails to say anything, Holtzmann looks away and nods her agreement to her mentor.

‘Will your colleague be joining us?’ Dr Gorin asks Holtzmann, hinting at Erin.

Erin seizes the opportunity to answer all the pending questions in Holtzmann’s eyes and speaks on the blonde’s behalf.

‘I’m not just her colleague.’ She strides over to Holtzmann and takes her hand. ‘We’re dating.’ She announces, looks up at Holtzmann for validation. Her impressed look and eager eyes are all the confirmation Erin needs.

‘Very well,’ Dr Gorin states, ‘I will meet you both downstairs in two minutes.’

As the door closes behind Dr Gorin, Holtzmann wastes no time tugging Erin back into her arms, she presses their foreheads together and smiles.

‘I’m _so_ glad I went back to the drawing board.’  


End file.
